Beat the Heat 2013
by Scribe's Faction
Summary: A series of one-shots written by different authors for the Scribe's Faction "Beat the Heat" Summer 2013 writing challenge.
1. A Fruity Summer Delight!

**Title:** A Fruity Summer Delight!

**Theme:** 'Beat the Heat – Challenge'

**Author**: Rena404

**Summary**: You know what they say, when life gives you lemons you make lemonade so what do you do when life throws in alot of fruit your way on a hot summer day?

**Genre:** Friendship/General

**Rating:** K

**Characters:** Hino, Amou and Fuyuumi

* * *

Hino and Amou had decided to visit Fuyuumi's villa on the weekend. The day in question was a really hot day and they couldn't wait to get to Fuyuumi's place. The heat was scorching!

"Soooo HOT!" Amou grumbled.

"We're almost there, don't worry, Amou chan!" Hino reassured her, though she felt the same. Sure enough, Fuyuumi's villa came in sight a couple of minutes after, breathing a sigh of relief and with a new spring in their step they hurried forward. They were starting to get too sweaty and that was enough to make them irritable. Hino couldn't help but fervently wish for something that would cool them down.

Fuyuumi answered the door quickly, almost as if she was standing near it but who was complaining? Just seeing their beloved kouhai had lifted their moods already. But they weren't prepared for the sight that greeted them when they entered the place. They stood dumbfounded as Fuyuumi stammered in her hastiness and embarrassment to explain the sight before them. There were half a dozen big baskets decorated elegantly with ribbons in the entrance hall and all of them were filled to the brim with fruit!

"I... I'm so sorry you had to see this, senpai. My parents are away on a trip right now and just a few minutes ago some business associates of my father's sent all these as a gift to the family. I was just about to ask the head keeper to store them away but..."

"But what? What is it, Fuyuumi chan?" Hino asked kindly since Fuyuumi seemed a little lost and confused.

"Th.. There's too much! I don't know what to do with all of it! It can't all fit in the refrigrators even if we have more than one. Keeping it outside will make it go bad due to the heat!" Fuyuumi seemed somewhat distressed. "A...Any ideas, senpai?" She looked at them hopefully. Hino and Amou stood speechless for a moment thinking. Amou gazed at the fruit baskets and then...

"I GOT IT!" She suddenly shouted making them jump, "This'll be sooo much fun!" She squealed gleefully.

Ten minutes later they were all chatting excitedly, with sparkling eyes and enthusiastically cutting and chopping the fruit from one of the baskets.

"This was an excellent idea, Amou chan! Making fruit salad! It'll use up A LOT of the fruit if we make lots of it and we can even try making something else! We can even put fruit pieces in icecream to make ice cream sundaes!" Hino exclaimed happily.

"Ohhh! Good idea! Putting mangoes in vanilla icecream sounds good! How about you, Fuyuumi chan? A cherry and chocolate combination doesn't sound bad either!" Amou said excitedly.

"It tastes absolutely delicious!" Hino exclaimed after some hours as the cold, sweet taste of fruit and ice cream melted in her mouth.

"Everything's cold and it feels so good to eat! This is the way to enjoy summer!" Amou shouted in delight as Hino and Fuyuumi laughed, heartily agreeing.


	2. Water

**Title:** Water

**Theme:** Beat the Heat

**Author**: littlebottle

**Genre**: friendship

**Rating**: K

**Characters**: Hihara Kazuki and Hasegawa Tsukasa

* * *

"Kazuki, don't," the brown-haired lad said to the trumpeter. His hazel eyes cautiously scanned the potential enemy in front of him.

"You said that it's hot..." Kazuki gleefully taunted.

"Yeah but..."

"What you need is a cool refreshing splash of water right?" Kazuki questioned playfully. He shoved his opened water bottle closer to the retreating Tsukasa.

The chirping of the cicadas announced the glory of summer. Sweat trickled down the neck of every person under the scorching rays of the sun. Water evaporated from the damp clothes a woman was hanging. Soapy water surged over the car a man was washing. The concour participant and his accompanist thought that it would just be a normal walk after the coincidental meeting in the convenience store but it was not.

"Kazuki!"

"Tsukasa!" Kazuki countered with a hearty laugh.

Tsukasa moved back, one careful step after another. The ample water in Kazuki's water bottle swayed threateningly from side to side, spouting malice. After flashing an angelic smile, Kazuki drew back his bottle to provide the momentum required for the big movement.

Splash! Cool water rained down on Tsukasa's brown hair, chasing out the irritable heat of his body and he glared at Kazuki. Kazuki's amber eyes were wide open and his jaw dropped.

"I'm so sorry, young man!" The man washing his car apologised, sprinting towards the soaked pianist.

"It's okay. It's an accident."

As soon as Tsukasa confirmed his forgiveness, the man swiftly entered his house to get a towel for the unfortunate Tsukasa. The moment the man was out of sight, laughter burst out from the dry one of the pair. He limply pointed his right index finger at the drenched guy while his left hand which was clutching the water bottle was held over his stomach, desperately trying to stop his outburst of happiness.

"You know, it's still your fault."

This matter-of-fact sentence caused Kazuki's laughter to die down a little.

"If you hadn't threatened to attack me, I wouldn't be walking in the direction of this house."

By the time Tsukasa reached the last word of his sentence, Kazuki's cackling face had been replaced with a full-fledged pout.

"You know what to do." The finishing blow had been landed.

Kazuki's lips swelled outwards for a few more milliters and the level of shimmering splendor in his eyes drastically escalated before he hung his head down. He drew a deep breath, raising his head and looking straight at Tsukasa. Then he brought the opened water bottle up, higher and higher. It went up to his torso, then his shoulder then his neck and finally hovered over his head. Within a split second, all the clear water in the water bottle was emptied into his entire body.

"Good boy," Tsukasa snickered, tousling his friend's olive green wet hair.

Clear, transparent water dripped down from the two students, hitting the hot pavement with a soft sizzle, a sizzle which was easily drowned out by the uproar of laughter from the said subjects.


	3. Ticket

**Title:** Ticket

**Theme**: Beat the Heat

**Autho**r: littlebottle

**Genre**: friendship

**Rating**: K

**Characters**: Hihara Kazuki and Junnosuke Sasaki

* * *

"No way!"

The trumpeter whined in disappointment as he scanned the list of prices on top of the ticket booth of the water park.

"You owe me, man!" A familiar voice jokingly scolded.

Kazuki turned around with a desperate but hopeful smile.

"Sasaki!"

"Hihara-senpai!"

"Hey, Sasaki! Oh. Is this a class outing?" He asked as he quickly filtered the faces of class 2-B students to find a certain redhead. His eyes drilled every single face, scrutinizing every single feature of their faces like a world-class detective.

"She couldn't make it because of her violin lesson, Hihara-senpai..."

"Wh-what? Who?"

"You know who... Should I say her name out loud?"

"No… I do not know what you are talking about," he said as he avoided Sasaki's sinister eyes.

"Hi..."

Kazuki started ruffling his olive-green hair.

"...no..."

Kazuki flinched at the syllable.

"...Ka..."

"So anyway! Sasaki, I need to borrow your money!"

"Why?" Sasaki managed to gasp as he tried to suppress his laugh.

"I want to go to the water park but I didn't bring enough money. I can only afford the couple's ticket. So can you help me out?"

"I'm really sorry but I don't have that much spare money…"

"Why don't I pretend to be your girlfriend?" A female voice suddenly caused both guys to jump.

"Wh-what?" Kazuki gaped, filled with utter disbelief.

"It's just pretend," the black-haired girl said stoically.

"Why would you do that?" Sasaki demanded, confused by Nao's actions and his own incomprehensible feeling.

"What's the big deal?"

_Going to the water park as a couple? With Kobayashi-san? No way! I can't do something like that! I-I like Kaho-chan so... I can't! I'll be betraying her! Wait, what? We're not even g-going out! This doesn't count as betrayal but I-I... I want to go to the water park!_ The thoughts infiltrating Kazuki's mind is as chaotic as World War II.

_What's the big deal? What IS the big deal? Why do I not want Kobayashi to pretend to be Hihara-senpai's girlfriend? I mean it's not like I have feelings for her or anything... So what is this extreme frustration? Why am I feeling so angry?_ The thoughts bombarded in Sasaki's mind in a turbulent turmoil.

"Hihara-senpai, you helped Kaho a lot. Take it as a token of my gratitude!" Nao said with a smile so bright that it forced Sasaki to squint as a surge of red dye colored his face. Kazuki immediately realized what was going on. Sasaki was just like him.

"Here! Take my money and go buy the couple's ticket! I'll use your money to buy a regular ticket! You guys look more like a couple anyway! Is that okay?"

"So... What do you say?" Sasaki asked, his gaze fixed on the flushed girl in front of him.

"Do whatever you want!"

When Nao was out of earshot, Sasaki leaned in and whispered, "Thanks but next time, I'll be the one to help you get your girl!"

"W-whaaaaaaaaat?"

Their friendship has definitely grown stronger.


	4. Friendly Competition

**Title**: Friendly Competition

**Theme**: Beat the Heat Challenge

**Author**: Loiviation

**Summary:** Len let go of his last breath and succumbed to yet another defeat. Victory for Ryoutaro Tsuchiura... again. Drying his hair, Len put into mind that this summer, the heat wasn't the only thing he was going to beat.

**Genre**: Friendship/Humor

**Rating**: T

**Characters:** Len Tsukimori/Ryoutaro Tsuchiura

* * *

55 minutes have passed. The clock was ticking and the sun was beating down the lake. Muscles ached as they waited for the last five minutes to end.

"I'm down to my last bait," said Tsuchiura, smirking as he looked tapped his worm bucket. Len darted a look towards the green-haired man before looking down on his own bucket. His was still half full. Tsuchiura's cooler was already half-filled with big fish resting on hard ice while he merely had one in his. It was almost self-pitying seeing how Tsuchiura, a man no older or wiser than he was, had already (possibly) emptied the whole pond in an hour's time.

And to think that they had their bait swimming around the same area.

Just about an hour ago, Tsuchiura boasted his fishing skills to the group just as Len was telling a story of how he and his grandfather used to walk this island when he was young. He practically knew the place from here and back.

Now the bet… The bet happened when Tsuchiura started bragging about how many fish he could catch in a day. As if by instinct, Len's mouth just had to open. Out came the words, "Anyone could fish. It's nothing to brag about. I'm sure I could catch as much fish as you do." He wasn't sure why but whenever Tsuchiura mentioned that he could do one thing, he would always have to urge to question it. The doubting eventually lead Len to challenging him on the said talent and he often lost.

After the words escaped his mouth, some idiot murmured that they should have a contest to see who catches the most fish. Not wasting any more time, the gang bought bait and borrowed fishing poles, running to the nearest lake.

_I should really learn how to control my misplaced competitiveness,_ Len thought as he stared at his lone fish: a fish just an inch longer than a sardine. He could sense Tsuchiura feeling good about himself as he was down to his last catch.

_If I could catch twenty sardine-looking fish, I might be able to beat him_, Tsukimori mentally comforted himself._ After all, we are judging by quantity_.

"Alright! Time's up!" The brunette shouted from the sidelines, holding up her stopwatch. "Now let's see who caught the most fish!"

_This is embarrassing_, Len dared not to look at anyone as he stood up and started packing his things. Nami leaned closer and counted Tsuchiura's box first. Len grabbed his things and accepted his fate.

"Six big trouts!" Nami announced. Team Tsuchiura cheered. Nami didn't have to peer into Len's cooler to see how many he had in his. She was watching the whole time to know that he had caught only one. She grabbed the floater and striped swimsuit.

Len sighed as the rest cheered. _The worst part of losing_, he thought, _isn't losing. _He took the suit and floater hesitantly and watched as his friends laughed.

_It's the punishment._

* * *

_**A/N:**__ The theme was "Beat The Heat" so I thought maybe beating the hell out of each other in the form of bets and skill tests would be a fun way for the gang to "beat" the heat. I think this is the first time that I've written for SF as I've failed to pass my previous story for most of the past prompts._

_ Well anyway, this is the first part of the two-month weekly installment type of story that I'll be writing for this two-month prompt. Just a little friendly competition rather than a fluffy summer romance for a change _ ~koi_


End file.
